


Failure is Always an Option

by Levade



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Fun with explosions, Gen, Nerdanel makes this look easy, Never a dull day with Feanaro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-10 22:27:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15958862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Levade/pseuds/Levade
Summary: Written for the prompt "Still, Like Dust, I'll Rise", for the Feanorian Fun Bingo.  Feanor is experimenting with explosives. Valar help him if the chicken coop catches fire.  Again.





	Failure is Always an Option

**Author's Note:**

> I love Mythbusters (the title of this story is a quote) and it shows up every now and then in my writing. No muses were harmed in the writing of this story. Can't say the same for any anvils.

* * *

 

The explosion rocked the entire estate, including the boulder that Nerdanel was seated before, and she scrambled away as it swayed wildly back and forth.  Slapping her drawing pad on the nearby table, she pivoted and ran out of her workshop towards the forge.  Odds were better than good he was fine.

Odds were over one hundred percent that something was destroyed and that something had better not be her greenhouse, or the children's rooms.  Fortunately for all involved the children were visiting their grandfather in Tirion.

"FËANÁRO!"

He staggered out of the forge, reached for a door that was no longer there (it was resting some seven meters away, perilously close to Nerdanel's favorite hollyhocks) and coughed out little black clouds of soot to stare at her with wild, wide eyes.  "I was SO close to making that work!" 

She really... **really** did not want to know, but that was part of the agreement you made in marrying someone.  It was an unspoken thing, but she could have bet (and won) that if it wasn't upheld the offended party would object, strenuously, and in a very long monologue that laid out all the errors in her thinking.  "What -"

"DID YOU HEAR ME?"

Nerdanel blinked and shook her head to clear the buzzing in her head from his yelling.  "I think your father in Tirion likely heard."  At his frustrated and impatient look she took a deep breath and bellowed, "YOUR HEARING IS OFF AGAIN FROM THE EXPLOSION!"

Excitement lit his eyes.  "I WAS SO CLOSE!"

So be it.  Conversing in bellow was a norm after Fëanáro's experiments in attempting to find a new source of illumination for his lanterns.  "SO CLOSE TO WHAT?"  Nerdanel's gaze was drawn to the forge, what was left of it, as the smoldering black smoke suddenly ignited and flames began to eat up the remaining combustibles.  "IS ANY OF WHAT'S LEFT EXPLOSIVE AS WELL?"

He flapped a hand, not even turning to look.  "I THINK I USED TOO MUCH OF THE-"

Whatever he was going to explain was drowned out in a smaller, but no less magnificent explosion that blew a blackened anvil straight up around eight meters. 

Fëanáro turned and shook his head as the anvil came down with a mighty thud less than a meter from where he stood.  "LOOK AT THE POWER IN THAT TINY AMOUNT!  IF I COULD JUST REGULATE IT ENOUGH...."

Seeing that one of his braids as well as a corner of his heavy apron had caught fire, Nerdanel pulled off her own apron and ran over to smother the flames, slapping the fire out.  "YOU'RE ON FIRE!"

He turned with a smile that lit his eyes and made him look slightly psychotic.  "I KNOW!  ISN'T IT WONDERFUL?"  Grabbing her shoulders, he pulled her in and kissed her before letting go with a cocky, satisfied grin.  "BUT NOT NOW, MY LOVELY WIFE!  YOU'LL HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL TONIGHT!"  He winked and turned, swaggering back to what was left of the forge, stepping over pieces of wood merrily burning (which was why the forge was set away from the house, the greenhouse, Nerdanel's workshop and the chicken coop, with a wide circumference of bare dirt that kept everything else from being set on fire). 

Nerdanel watched for a moment to be certain her husband, already once again lost in deep contemplation, wouldn't try to re-enter what was left of his forge.  He wandered around it, nodding and muttering loudly to himself.  Fëanáro was fine.  Better than fine, almost as if the set-back had only made him more determined to succeed. 

And he would, she had absolutely no doubt of that. 

Laughing, Nerdanel walked back towards her workshop and her project, looking forward to what was going to be a _very_ interesting night.


End file.
